Exposed Vocals Interviews Smoke Tribe
Smoke Tribe is a Psychedelic/Abstract Hip-Hop group from Las Vegas, NV. We are currently working on our first mix-tape “Native Vision Quest” as well as other solo projects. Our main goal is to spread our word and give a sight to the blind through our lyrical art. We are all about peace, love, music, and being who you want to be; NOT what people tell you to be. We’ve been together for 4 years now. We love to skate, make art, and spread peace. – Spirit Molecule Of Kids Enlightenment To Refurbish Individuals By Entertainment (S.M.O.K.E. T.R.I.B.E.)
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Smoke Tribe: All 3 of us (Gemin3ye, Cpt. Sharp, Wizard) grew up in Las Vegas, NV and formed our group back in late 2012. Growing up music and being outside was our best escape from the real world so we took that to advantage when we got older. We realized that music is the best way to get your thoughts out and change lives; or maybe even the world.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Smoke Tribe: We were all in Highschool/Middle School at the time and we would always meet up and smoke after school. We’d listen to music for hours and sit in our friends house. The street we would all hangout on and even meet on was named TeePee Ln and it just came to us that Native American Tribes use tee-pees’ as shelter. Which is what that neighborhood was to us. Home. So, we decided to call ourselves Smoke Tribe. It stands for “Spirit Molecule Of Kids Enlightenment To Refurbish Individuals By Entertainment”
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Smoke Tribe: We think it’s a genius idea. Everyone use the internet nowadays so why not take advantage of that? Yes, our music is available for free download on https://soundcloud.com/smoke-tribe. We also have two songs uploaded to our YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuLS_YaC-aceiUl5efCNsYg. Our music is free for download because we just make it for fun and to spread our word. Not to make money.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Smoke Tribe: Get to know people and don’t be afraid to share and expose your music to people. You’d be surprised who might want you to perform at a show; or maybe even sign you to a label. Get deeper into the music scene and your music. It will all come to you.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Smoke Tribe: We get our inspiration from the beat and from within ourselves. We let the beat tell us what to say. The beat makes the lyrics just spew out onto paper/notes on our phones. We sit around the room, listening to the beat a few times before beginning to write the lyrics. We let it inspire us first.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Smoke Tribe: Sadly, not yet. But we do have a Twitter @ThatSmokeyTribe and we share our music via SoundCloud and we have a few videos on YouTube of a couple of our songs.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Smoke Tribe: We would continue to make music and donate to people/organizations in need. Fixing the environment is one of our main concerns so a lot of money would go to that as well.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Smoke Tribe: Well of course websites like Exposed Vocals, but we also share our music to people we know. Either on Social media, or friends of ours, or just random people we meet. I believe Social Media works the best so far with my experience.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Smoke Tribe: We’ve been planning a video for our YouTube page, no exact details yet. But it’s gonna awesome (: Our album (not titled yet) will be released sometime in 2017.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Smoke Tribe: We’d probably be skating, drawing, doing photography. We do these anyways but we’d still be doing them if we weren’t making music. Music is our biggest passion so there’s no doubt we’ll always be making it! Even when we’re old and don’t know how to use the current technology of that era.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Smoke Tribe: It’s been difficult, it’s not as easy as you’d think to get a job as a teenager but we still give it our all we’ve got, because no one ever said this life was easy.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Smoke Tribe:Our mix-tape is being released in August, but after that we are going to start working on our first album, and so much more. Such as, clothing, solo albums, and a little surprise for the people. So be prepared for the Revolution.